[1790] Still alive
It has occurred to me that now is as good a time as any to inform the wider internet (at least, whatever portion of it is reading my livejournal...) that I am not dead.
It wasn't exactly touch-and-go, but for a while it was pretty scary, especially early last week when a second visit to the E.R. revealed that the stabbing pain that had been building in my left leg was a second bout of DVT. Evidently the warfarin wasn't working, or I'd already developed a clot that was only just then revealing itself, or something. My left leg wasn't quite so badly affected as my right--fewer veins blocked, and only from groin to knee, not to ankle--but it still hurt. A lot. It still does, although the pain is ebbing now enough that I've been able to cut my pain meds in half and hope to switch from Percocet to Tylenol this weekend.
The second attack did bring benefits in its wake, though, because I was referred to a new doctor in the University of Utah healthcare system who's a thrombosis specialist, and he not only switched my bloodthinner meds (from warfarin to xarelto, which means I can eat vitamin K-containing foods again and don't have to go in for regular blood tests) but also ordered some additional labwork. The new tests revealed that I have a genetic mutation called Factor V Leiden, which vastly increases my risk of developing a blood clot when presented with extra estrogen (as with the estrogen-containing birth control pills I'd been using, or with any hypothetical future pregnancy). My parents are both going to be tested to see which side of the family it comes from.
It's been pretty scary. There's been a lot of crying, and not only from the pain.
But I'm doing better now. I walked unaided for the first time on Tuesday; yesterday I fixed myself a meal for the first time, while Mom was at the temple in the afternoon. I'm still only walking short distances--bed to kitchen and back again--, and in the evenings I have quite a bit more pain. I've worked some from home this week, though the quality of the work is perhaps dubious; I'll be back to the office on Monday, hopefully working longer hours and with only Tylenol in my system, not oxycodone. I've got into Facebook fights that I shouldn't have, and on Wednesday Mom and I spent the afternoon watching Pacific Rim to keep us out of further Facebook fights. (It worked, and was a lot of fun. Then we watched Ultraman clips on Youtube, because Mom remembered watching it every week before Girl Scouts in California as a child. It was delightful both to see the forerunners of the kaijuu in Pacific Rim and to have that moment of bonding with her--I'd never known her secret fondness for ridiculous monster movies!)
We looked for more fun action movies on Netflix yesterday morning but ended up watching I Was A Male War Bride instead, which was even more entertaining. I wish today's romantic comedies had the quick, clever banter and situational humor of those old classics, instead of the current trend of gross-out humor and embarrassment comedy. Embarrassment comedy is the surest way to get me to turn the show off.
I was hoping to be able to get out of the apartment today, at least to take Mom to lunch somewhere. But Rosalind has abruptly come down with her own medical emergency, so we'll see how things go--whether Mom needs to go down to Provo today or not.
It wasn't exactly touch-and-go, but for a while it was pretty scary, especially early last week when a second visit to the E.R. revealed that the stabbing pain that had been building in my left leg was a second bout of DVT. Evidently the warfarin wasn't working, or I'd already developed a clot that was only just then revealing itself, or something. My left leg wasn't quite so badly affected as my right--fewer veins blocked, and only from groin to knee, not to ankle--but it still hurt. A lot. It still does, although the pain is ebbing now enough that I've been able to cut my pain meds in half and hope to switch from Percocet to Tylenol this weekend.
The second attack did bring benefits in its wake, though, because I was referred to a new doctor in the University of Utah healthcare system who's a thrombosis specialist, and he not only switched my bloodthinner meds (from warfarin to xarelto, which means I can eat vitamin K-containing foods again and don't have to go in for regular blood tests) but also ordered some additional labwork. The new tests revealed that I have a genetic mutation called Factor V Leiden, which vastly increases my risk of developing a blood clot when presented with extra estrogen (as with the estrogen-containing birth control pills I'd been using, or with any hypothetical future pregnancy). My parents are both going to be tested to see which side of the family it comes from.
It's been pretty scary. There's been a lot of crying, and not only from the pain.
But I'm doing better now. I walked unaided for the first time on Tuesday; yesterday I fixed myself a meal for the first time, while Mom was at the temple in the afternoon. I'm still only walking short distances--bed to kitchen and back again--, and in the evenings I have quite a bit more pain. I've worked some from home this week, though the quality of the work is perhaps dubious; I'll be back to the office on Monday, hopefully working longer hours and with only Tylenol in my system, not oxycodone. I've got into Facebook fights that I shouldn't have, and on Wednesday Mom and I spent the afternoon watching Pacific Rim to keep us out of further Facebook fights. (It worked, and was a lot of fun. Then we watched Ultraman clips on Youtube, because Mom remembered watching it every week before Girl Scouts in California as a child. It was delightful both to see the forerunners of the kaijuu in Pacific Rim and to have that moment of bonding with her--I'd never known her secret fondness for ridiculous monster movies!)
We looked for more fun action movies on Netflix yesterday morning but ended up watching I Was A Male War Bride instead, which was even more entertaining. I wish today's romantic comedies had the quick, clever banter and situational humor of those old classics, instead of the current trend of gross-out humor and embarrassment comedy. Embarrassment comedy is the surest way to get me to turn the show off.
I was hoping to be able to get out of the apartment today, at least to take Mom to lunch somewhere. But Rosalind has abruptly come down with her own medical emergency, so we'll see how things go--whether Mom needs to go down to Provo today or not.